Steven Santoro, the new Executive Director of NJ Transit.

Head of NJ Transit to Step Down as Gov-Elect Murphy Promises Big Change

Stephen Nessen

WNYC News | Jan 5, 2018

The head of NJ Transit is stepping down after a little more than a year at the top post, continuing the agency's revolving door of leaders.

Executive Director Steve Santoro, a veteran of the agency, was appointed to the position in October 2016, after the agency had been running 10 months without a permanent chief. He was appointed to run the agency a month after the deadly train crash at the Hoboken terminal. An earlier hire, former Amtrak executive William Crosbie, withdrew from the position before he began over a dispute about keeping a home in Virginia.

"Steve is a good person. He has tried his best. He's meant well. But he's been handed a most difficult set of cards by Gov. [Chris] Christie," Martin Robins, a former deputy executive director at NJ Transit and director emeritus of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, said. "It's really made his tenure look worse, by far, than it really is."

NJ Transit has had difficulty retaining staff, dealt with severe budget cuts, and increasing safety issues. The previous head of the agency, Ronnie Hakim, was hired to be president of New York City Transit.

"He may feel that he's had enough, and I'm sure that with the incoming governor saying that he considers NJ Transit to be a 'disgrace today,' it's not an opportune time for Steve to try to extend his stay at NJ Transit," Robins added.

Santoro said he would leave in April. One member of Murphy's transportation transition committee, Tom Wright with the Regional Plan Association, said the Murphy administration is looking at top industry people nationwide.

In a statement, Santoro touted his focus on safety and customer service, particularly during Amtrak's summer track work at Penn Station. "He also led successful efforts to emphasize safety and security, overseeing the addition of 25 new NJ Transit police officers and the opening of a new, state-of-the-art emergency operations center for the agency," he said in a statement.